Hard Belle has best current form but faces accomplished foes

The multiple stakes winners Three Rules and Quijote might need flashbacks to their best form to defeat the improving 3-year-old Hard Belle in Friday’s eighth race at Gulfstream Park.

The feature, an optional $62,500 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs, drew a field of nine. Others set to start include overnight stakes winners Harryhee and War Giant.

The race is part of the Rainbow 6 sequence, which had a jackpot carryover of $1,262,470 heading into the race week Thursday. The 20-cent bet runs on races 4-9 Friday. The jackpot has not been hit since July 6. There was $270,051 bet into the pool on Sunday.

KEY CONTENDERS

Hard Belle, by Hard Spun

Last 3 Beyers: 80-81-79

◗ He’s earned the three best Beyer Speed Figures of his career in his last three starts, and the 80 he was given for his runner-up finish at this level in his most recent race Aug. 11 at Gulfstream is the best last-race number in the field Friday.

◗ Hard Belle won his two starts prior to that race, winning a $25,000 claiming sprint July 1 and a first-level allowance sprint July 14. Both races were at Gulfstream, and they came in the horse’s first starts for Imaginary Stables, trainer Elizabeth Dobles, and jockey Albin Jimenez.

◗ Hard Belle is out of the mare Bourbon Belle, a multiple Grade 3 winner of $1.1 million. He also is a half-brother to Not Bourbon, a winner of the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine.

◗ Hard Belle has utilized stalking tactics in his last several races and might get a decent trip off Field Trip, Harryhee, and Soldollie from post 6.

Quijote, by Pomeroy

Last 3 Beyers: 74-65-97

◗ He exits the same race as Hard Belle, finishing fourth by 6 1/4 lengths while making his first start since March 31.

◗ Quijote might be tough to contain if he runs back to his Jan. 19 win in the $100,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint at Gulfstream. He covered six furlongs in 1:09.98 and earned a career-high Beyer Figure of 103.

◗ One start later, Quijote finished second in the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint on March 2. Overall, he is a three-time stakes winner.

◗ Reylu Gutierrez has the mount from post 8 for Midwest Thoroughbreds and trainer Georgina Baxter.

Three Rules, by Gone Astray

Last 3 Beyers: 68-30-58

◗ He’s the most accomplished member of the field as a Grade 3 winner who has won five stakes and earned $969,600.

◗ He’s making his first start since an eighth-place finish in the $100,000 Big Drama on May 11 at Gulfstream. The race has produced three next-out winners, two of them taking overnight stakes at Gulfstream.

◗ Three Rules will add blinkers Friday.